Another fascinating piece from Yulia Latinina. Ros Ukr Energo, linked to alleged arch criminal Semyon Mogilyevich, she argues may have been conning the kremlin into thinking Yushchenko was in his pocket. Byzantine “just suppose” tale.
There have been problems with the Moscow Times site of late, with some articles demanding subscription. This week, they arent. Who knows what will happen next week. This one was part blocked last week but is OK to read now. Odd, eh?

Article in New York Times alleges that investigation is taking place of two senior US officers. Claims are being made by other accused of bribe taking somewhere in the reconstruction and procurement offices. The nature of the evidence is, naturally, problematic.

Nothing really specific to Brazil. A story that could be told of anywhere in the world, except for the business of bribing the police to get a lesser charge. Two upper class E dealers tell how prison affected them. They also warn that putting the upper classes in jail leads to their recruitment by organised crime with all the subsequent networking opportunities. But we knew that anyway. Its just the policy-makers who dont seem to have it clear in their heads. Prison is a recruitment agency for extremists, criminals and all sorts of odd-bods. It needs rethinking.

Some rare sane thoughts on US prison policy: it doesnt work, its too expensive and it actually violates the few human rights the US allows prisoners and aliens. California’s own court orders the State to reduce the prison population by 55,000 or one third.
The UK Home Office continues slavishly to imitate US models, most of which even the US recognises have failed. Maybe one year we might have some ideas of our own! Well, of course, UK academics and even its own researchers have been telling the Home Office its got it wrong for years..Jack Straw and the Ministry of Justice? same old, same old.